ABUJA – The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Gu Xiaojie, on Wednesday expressed the country’s readiness to offer scholarships to more Nigerians and other Africans interested in studying in China.
The Ambassador who made this known at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the offer would strengthen the relationship between China and African countries, particularly Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerian students are greater in number in China and the Chinese government will always be willing to assist Nigeria in building its education sector.
“A lot of Nigerian students on scholarships are going to China and we are increasing the number of scholarships given to Nigeria and other African countries.
“Chinese language is more popular and learnt in other parts of the world because of course China is growing which is the biggest population and the second largest economy.
“And also China is a country with more than 5,000 years history of civilization a lot of people can learn from.
“While this country is growing and making impact, naturally a lot of people would like to know the culture, would like to learn the language.
“And Nigeria is a country in Africa which has the biggest number of overseas students studying in China,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Ambassador has urged Nigerians to learn the Chinese language offered at its Cultural Centre located in the Federal Capital territory, Abuja.
He explained that the Chinese government deemed it necessary to establish the centre to give Nigerians the opportunity to learn Chinese.
The ambassador said the knowledge of Chinese language would avail Nigerians the opportunity to communicate easily with their Chinese counterparts.
“I would like to mention that last year we set up a China centre in Nigeria, which is a very good facility.
“It provides a platform so that right here in Abuja people could exchange or increase cultural exchanges.
“And also a number of Chinese language courses are offered in the Chinese Cultural Centre in Abuja.
“We encourage Nigerians, young students, to go to China to learn the language and of course a lot of Chinese people speak English.
“And there are Hausa lessons offered in China in some of the universities and that is to show how we look at Nigeria.
“I hope that these kinds of mutually beneficial reinforcing exchanges will really want to see more and more people on cultural exchanges.
“So, the embassy and the cultural centre here will like to give all the help if people want to learn Chinese here in Nigeria or if you want to learn Chinese in China,“ he said.
